Michael Lind thinks this: "The election of Barack Obama to the presidency may signal more than the end of an era of Republican presidential dominance and conservative ideology. It may mark the beginning of a Fourth Republic of the United States....As I see it, to date there have been three American republics, each lasting 72 years (give or take a few years). The First Republic of the United States, assembled following the American Revolution, lasted from 1788 to 1860. The Second Republic, assembled following the Civil War and Reconstruction (that is, the Second American Revolution) lasted from 1860 to 1932. And the Third American Republic, assembled during the New Deal and the civil rights eras (the Third American Revolution), lasted from 1932 until 2004." He explains the "2004" in the article and the he whole of it is worth filing for later contemplation and use.
What we are seeing is the cult of personality and that is very, very dangerous.
Lind is on to something: the Lincoln and classical references, the contempt for Clinton-Reagan, his audacity--these are not mere trappings or about personality--they go to the heart of America and an audacious effort to remake us.
And Lind is correct to note that we're still living in a world created by the changes FDR and his Progressive friends brought to the American regime. Reagan and the other Republican leaders of the past 30 years did not change that essential reality. In other words, those who wish for change must grapple with that reality. Senator Obama seems to understand that.